Foster carers talk about the task of caring for children and young people who come with a range of difficulties. The foster carers describe the strategies they have used to cope with sexual abuse, extreme neglect, HIV, severe disability, learning difficulties, foetal alcohol syndrome and institutionalisation, and the problems they have encountered in so doing. Their stories reveal both the hardships and triumphs of fostering and the love with which each carer has engaged in his or her calling.